A Maryland State Attorney says the man who fatally shot Orange County deputy Scott Pine had a suspended 10-year prison sentence hanging over his head and knew if he was arrested he was going back behind bars.

Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger told WESH 2 news Wednesday that in his opinion, 28-year-old Benjamin Holterman should not have been out of jail.

Holtermann, who’s from Maryland, was convicted in 2009 of robbing the same bank twice, in less than four months.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison for the first robbery and given a 10-year suspended sentence for the second robbery.

After serving just 3 1/2 years in prison, Holtermann was released in November of 2013 but knew if he got in any kind of trouble, he had a 10-year suspended sentence hanging over his head and would be sent back to prison.

Shellenberger believes that additional 10 years in prison would have been in Holtermann’s mind when he shot and killed Deputy Pine.

“Clearly, when an individual knows that any conviction for any crime can trigger an additional 10-year sentence, particularly on top of the fact that he just finished doing 3 1/2, I think certainly is a great motivation for trying to escape from justice and certainly that seems like a reasonable explanation for why he turned to violence,” Shellenberger said.

Shellenberger said he has long opposed Maryland’s current parole system and he believes Holtermann should have still been behind bars, “I’ve been complaining about Maryland’s parole system for a long time now. I believe in truth in sentencing and that seven should mean seven and 10 should mean 10. I don’t think seven should mean 3 1/2 so, I don’t think he should be out of jail.

Holtermann fatally shot Deputy Pine after a brief foot chase just after midnight Tuesday. He was suspected of breaking into a car. Shortly after shooting Pine, Holtermann took his own life.

Deputies also arrested Holtermann’s girlfriend, Erica Pugh, who was allegedly acting as a look-out. She appeared before a judge today from the Orange County Jail and was ordered held on no bond.